ADHD glossary · Family perspectives
Interruption: a break in an ongoing activity
Draxler and colleagues define an interruption in mobile learning as a break in a primary task when another activity takes the person's attention. [1]
General education and practical perspectives. Editorial standards.
Their paper is about a particular research setting. We use that attributed definition to discuss an event in everyday activity, without turning every interruption into a symptom or assuming that it was avoidable.
The puzzle and the spill
In this fictional scene, Mila is sorting pieces for a tabletop jigsaw when a cup tips over on the other side of the table. She puts down the puzzle pieces and moves the box away from the spill. After the table is dry, she decides whether to continue the puzzle.
The puzzle is the ongoing activity in this description. Responding to the spill breaks that activity. Returning to the puzzle would be a later event, with its own question about where to continue.
This is not an example of someone doing attention incorrectly. We are not comparing how quickly Mila and another person would return, or using the story to predict an error rate. A different account of the event could include details not given here.
Identify the event before interpreting it
If an interruption needs discussing, an optional note can stay with the sequence of events:
- Activity underway: sorting puzzle pieces.
- Event that changed the activity: the cup tipped over.
- What happened next: the box was moved and the table dried.
- Decision still open: continue the puzzle or put it away.
This is an incident description for a low-stakes situation, not a log for counting someone's distractions. It does not assign blame for the cup, infer anyone's intentions, or rate the choice to stop.
Where several people were present, ask whether their accounts differ. A useful correction might be as simple as “We had already finished sorting” or “The box was not near the water.” The word interruption should not freeze an inaccurate version of the event.
Responsibilities can remain separate
A parent can take responsibility for the shared space without asking a child to prove they stayed focused. A sibling may want to protect their own puzzle section rather than become responsible for another person's return to the activity. A partner may decide that an interrupted hobby can wait until tomorrow.
Those are possible choices within the fictional situation. They are not universal instructions for managing interruptions. This entry is not guidance for emergencies or safety-critical work, where the relevant procedures take priority.
Not every switch needs this label
Here, the label concerns a break in the activity being described. A planned move from one completed activity to another raises a different question from an interruption. Task resumption concerns returning after the break, not the event that caused it.
The source paper explores mobile-learning design, including small focus groups and possible support ideas. None of those ideas, outcome claims, or timing estimates is adopted as household advice. This page supplies a way to name what happened while leaving cause, responsibility, and next steps open to the actual facts.
Source
[1] Draxler F, Schneegass C, Niforatos E. Designing for Task Resumption Support in Mobile Learning. MobileHCI ’19; October 1–4, 2019; Taipei, Taiwan. Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3338286.3344394. Accessed September 6, 2026, LMU full text, “Task Resumption & Memory Cues.” Supports [1] only; no performance or support-effect claim adopted.
Related guides
Sources and what they support
These sources support the specific statements identified below. Our practical exercises are suggestions to consider, not evidence of a treatment effect.
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Designing for Task Resumption Support in Mobile Learning — Association for Computing Machinery — MobileHCI ’19; author full text hosted by LMU Munich
Source type: primary study.
Accessed .
Source check, September 6, 2026: Scoped source check. Passage: Task Resumption & Memory Cues, PDF page 2, opening interruption definition; Introduction and Discussion and Limitations inspected for context. Limits: Only the authors' interruption definition and contextual use of task resumption are adopted. Focus groups had four HCI experts and three users; the authors explicitly limit generalizability and request real-world testing. No observed outcome, performance cost, resumption timing or support-effect claim is generalized.
DOI: 10.1145/3338286.3344394.
Supports: Draxler and colleagues define an interruption in mobile learning as a break in a primary task when another activity takes the person's attention.
Correction check: No correction notice appeared in the inspected LMU manuscript material. ACM DOI landing was inaccessible (403); DOI-specific correction/erratum/retraction search restricted to ACM did not surface an identified notice. No comprehensive publisher correction or bibliographic audit is claimed.
Updates and corrections
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